"Name?"

I breathed out slowly, "Marcus McKenna"

The man typed, asking for the spelling, then confirmed it back to me, "Is this correct?"

I looked at my name, "Yes, sir."

He nodded, but wasn't really looking at me. I didn't particularly blame him given how much of my class had gone before me. We'd been getting processed through one at a time for hours by alphabetical order, so by the time you get to the Ms, you're gonna be pretty sick of this routine. I was looking around the office at things when he asked the question and missed it, "I'm sorry, what was the question?"

He sighed, "Age?"

"14. I'm a freshman."

He entered the information, "Gender?"

"Male."

This kept going. He got my address, checked the paperwork from my parents, all the things you'd expect of government types. I got asked about siblings, to which I told him I have two sisters, and then we started getting into side points. Dad works in marketing, my mom was a middle-school teacher until Mackenzie was born, and decided she wanted to stay home to raise us. I was in a karate class I'd been in for several years, I was in Scouts as a Star Scout and a member of the Order of the Arrow. Karate was a bit of an overstatement, since really, I was in the class, but mostly, I was just my sister Mackenzie's sparring partner. She was the one who had the line of trophies at home, not that I minded, but it felt like I was sort of lying, and I wanted to correct myself, but I felt like he deeply wanted to be done with this, so I let it go.

Finally, he produced a tablet, but not like the one he was entering my information on. This one was ancient-looking, with runes etched around the edges that I couldn't recognize, and in the center, the outline of a hand, "Please place your hand on the tablet."

I was a little nervous about it, but best to get this over with. The whole thing was just a thing to be gotten through. Less than 0.01% of the population of the entire world awakened with superpowers, with the news putting the total number of empowered individuals at around eight hundred thousand around the globe. The past decade had seen an explosion of the empowered, ranging across all walks of life, and with a variety of different superpowers and even magic, such as the magic in the tablet in front of me. While there seemed to be few true rules of who got what or if they got superpowers, a pattern had emerged, that powers would manifest at around fourteen to sixteen years of age, so the oldest supers by now were already in their mid-20s.

Of course, the first thing the governments of the world did was have a very prompt freak out about it, then realized they could pass laws and regulate the hell out of it, and calmed right back down when they felt the comfort of having a whole new chain of bureaucracy to establish. First, registering everyone, and testing to find those that had the spark in them. Then, creation of the Tiers, rated from the lowest, E-Tier, to S-Tier, the highest classification. It was kind of hilarious to me that the tier system had just about been pulled whole-cloth from anime and manga. There were exactly three S-Tiers in the entire world, and they were living forces of nature, beholden to very little aside from one another. I don't know, that always felt really lonely to me.

I felt a small shock as I pressed my hand to the tablet as the runes glowed blue, and for the first time, the government guy reacted, "Holy shi- I mean, it would seem you have a power."

I felt a sudden surge of panic at the news. I didn't want powers, I'm not a hero, what the fuck?!

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The man across from me explained a bunch of things, and made a quick call, but I can't even remember any of it, until he directed me to a door at the back of his office, and ushered me through, where a woman was waiting for me, "Hi... Marcus? I'm Anna, I'm a licensed therapist and psychic with the Hero Association of America, and I'll be with you through the rest of this process. Before we handle the next part, though, it feels like you might like something to eat?"

I got taken to a cafeteria, but not the same one as the one on our tour. I looked around for anyone I knew, but none of my classmates were here. Seriously?! No one but me?! Oh God

Even without telepathy, Anna could see the panic in me, "Marcus, it's going to okay, I promise. Part of why I'm here is because I went through this too, when I was your age. I know how scary this can be, and I'll be right here every step of the way. Now, let's get you some lunch, and we can just talk, or not. Whatever works best for you."

I did feel calmer, and I had so many questions, but I just... couldn't speak. It was like missing a gear on my bike, in that no matter how much I might want to go forward, all that happened was a ka-chunk, and nothing. Eating, however, I could do. Anna moved through the cafeteria line, handed me a tray to hold, and seemed to be hitting a perfect run of selecting what looked best to me to put on my tray, even getting me a Yoo-Hoo to drink. I had pizza, chicken nuggets, a danish, and my Yoo-Hoo. Tucking in, I felt better almost immediately, and finally had the nerve to speak, "I'm sorry."

She laughed, "What could you possibly have to be sorry about?"

"I... I freaked out, and you're a psychic, so I guess you had to feel that?" I stammered through it.

Anna smiled warmly, and laid a hand on mine, "Marcus, I hear every thought and feeling of everyone around me, all the time, and you being afraid is absolutely the most normal thing in the world. And, in my experience, it speaks very well of you that it worries you, that you won't take this for granted, or let it go to your head. Trust me, you're doing great, and there's nothing to apologize for."

True to her word, Anna was with me the whole time. After having some lunch, I was feeling a bit better, though still anxious, so I did what I'd learned in karate: I focused on my breathing. Head clear, this was just a process, a thing of steps and stages. Anna explained that very little of my life would change in the here and now, that I would be fully evaluated, and that depending on my tier, we would discuss my options going forward.

The evaluation was exhaustive, a full body scan, bloodwork, eye exam, hearing exam, and finally, I was led into a room with a man who introduced himself as Adam, "Hi there. Do you prefer Mark or Marcus?"

"Marcus, please."

"Well then Marcus, I'm Adam, and my powers are specific to evaluating the specific powers of people like yourself, and to assigning their tier ranking. Your abilities are still latent, they haven't awakened yet, and as part of my kit of powers, I will be awakening them for you. It won't be painful or anything, it's just going to feel a bit odd as I examine the power and release it. Anna will be right here for you, and once we have your powers and tier, we'll go over the next step. Take a moment, and just steady yourself. Would you like to sit, or would you prefer to stand for this?"

I'd been sitting all day, and chose to stand, taking another moment to focus on my breathing. When I nodded I was ready, Adam had me hold my hands out palms up, then laid his hands on mine. I felt... yeah, funky, as I felt an energy move up my arms, until it spread throughout my body like a wave of pins and needles. This grew for several seconds, until I felt something akin to something tearing, and the energy removed itself back into Adam.

He took a second for himself, obviously tiring from the exercise, before speaking, "Alright Marcus, I'm afraid it's a good news, bad news situation. The good news is that your powers are awakened, and you don't seem to be suffering any ill-effects, so you're still in good health. The bad news... you're literally the least powerful super I've encountered, not even E-Tier. Your power is something called '1% incremental improvement', and I genuinely am not sure what the use in it would be."

I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding. I was relieved, really. The power was totally useless, I wouldn't be shooting eyebeams, I didn't have to be a hero, and I could just go back to my life, "Thank God."

Adam tilted his head in confusion, while Anna came up next to me, "Well, I'm glad you feel good about this, but we still have some things to go over, and then we'll have a car take you home with some literature. I'll be working with you during your adjustment period, so I'll give you some contact information for me, and you are free to call me whenever you need to."

And this is how I became the world's first F-Tier superhero. God I wish they'd gotten that evaluation right.